5 ms·

Id be useful to have a "math for programmers book" that uses pseudo code instead of math notation. I studied math notation in 8th grade and then forgot about it

Id be useful to have a "math for programmers book" that uses pseudo code instead of math notation. I studied math notation in 8th grade and then forgot about it.

the_decider 7y ago
This book (Data Science Bookcamp) uses actual Python code instead of math notation. https://www.manning.com/books/data-science-bookcamp https://www.manning.com/books/data-science-bookcamp
TallGuyShort 7y ago
"Coding the matrix" was the breakthrough for me in grokking linear algebra, and this is what it does. Things are explained in terms of matrices and the mathematical transformations, and then explained in terms of python data structures and a loop over the elements. And most of the examples are computer science, like rotating images.
- uwuhn 7y ago
  I remember this course when it first came out, but didn't go through it since I didn't actually know how to program/code back then. Should I just buy the paperback off Amazon?
  - sn9 7y ago
    It's pretty cheap. I'd say go for it.
  - TallGuyShort 7y ago
    I didn't even know it was a course, I just got the book on Kindle. But I'd say go for it - as the other commenter said, it's cheap, and it doesn't require much coding knowledge, and it even explains most of what you do need to know if it's new to you. The real breakthrough is implementing the transformation in terms of fairly simple loops - which as a coder worked well for my brain. A non-coder might not find the advantage as big as I did, but I certainly don't think someone who can pick up some basic coding would struggle to understand what is being taught.
corysama 7y ago
Here's a start https://github.com/Jam3/math-as-code https://github.com/Jam3/math-as-code
mkl 7y ago
Possibly, but if you want to learn maths, then the notation is one of the smallest, easiest parts of it, and it's really helpful for the bigger, harder parts. Code is usually way more verbose than maths notation, so things get a lot bigger and it can be a lot harder to see what's going on. Learning maths notation is like learning the basic syntax of a programming language related to one you know already - there's not much to it and it doesn't take long to be able to read it comfortably. If you can already code then you know the basics and many relevant concepts already.
Impossible 7y ago
A Programmer's Introduction to Mathematics is probably what you're looking for. https://pimbook.org/ https://pimbook.org/
- ah700 7y ago
  I bought the book attempted to study from it and I am not a fan. It covers topics too briefly to be called an "introduction" to mathematics. If you have a solid math background and need a refresher you may find it useful, otherwise I found MIT OCW Mathematics for Computer Science to be a much more suitable introduction, and it comes with problem sets and answers (for the 2010 course). You can also purchase the course notes in book form on Amazon. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-042j-mathematics-for-computer-science-fall-2010/readings/ https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-compu... solutions https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4G5KBKimr07WXRlT0VKb0E0TGc https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4G5KBKimr07WXRlT0VK... physical book https://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Computer-Science-Eric-Lehman/dp/1680921223/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=#customerReviews https://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Computer-Science-Eric-Leh...
domnomnom 7y ago
If you can't even learn the syntax how will you ever learn the semantics?
ivan_ah 7y ago
Check out this short excerpt of definitions and examples of the math "alien symbols": https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/set_notation.pdf https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/set_notation.pdf They are really not that bad once you learn their meaning + very useful shorthand (you can think of math notation as a DSL with specific expressions for math operations). Longer preview of the book: https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSguide_v5_preview.pdf https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSguide_v5_previ... and here is another preview of the LA book: https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSguide2LA_preview.pdf https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSguide2LA_previ... Both books have been pretty popular with the programming crowd. They use standard math notation, but there are lots of code examples and computing analogies, so you'll feel right at home.

Id be useful to have a "math for programmers book" that uses pseudo code instead of math notation. I studied math notation in 8th grade and then forgot about it.

the_decider 7y ago

This book (Data Science Bookcamp) uses actual Python code instead of math notation. https://www.manning.com/books/data-science-bookcamp https://www.manning.com/books/data-science-bookcamp

TallGuyShort 7y ago

"Coding the matrix" was the breakthrough for me in grokking linear algebra, and this is what it does. Things are explained in terms of matrices and the mathematical transformations, and then explained in terms of python data structures and a loop over the elements. And most of the examples are computer science, like rotating images.

uwuhn 7y ago
I remember this course when it first came out, but didn't go through it since I didn't actually know how to program/code back then. Should I just buy the paperback off Amazon?
- sn9 7y ago
  It's pretty cheap. I'd say go for it.
- TallGuyShort 7y ago
  I didn't even know it was a course, I just got the book on Kindle. But I'd say go for it - as the other commenter said, it's cheap, and it doesn't require much coding knowledge, and it even explains most of what you do need to know if it's new to you. The real breakthrough is implementing the transformation in terms of fairly simple loops - which as a coder worked well for my brain. A non-coder might not find the advantage as big as I did, but I certainly don't think someone who can pick up some basic coding would struggle to understand what is being taught.

corysama 7y ago

Here's a start https://github.com/Jam3/math-as-code https://github.com/Jam3/math-as-code

mkl 7y ago

Possibly, but if you want to learn maths, then the notation is one of the smallest, easiest parts of it, and it's really helpful for the bigger, harder parts. Code is usually way more verbose than maths notation, so things get a lot bigger and it can be a lot harder to see what's going on. Learning maths notation is like learning the basic syntax of a programming language related to one you know already - there's not much to it and it doesn't take long to be able to read it comfortably. If you can already code then you know the basics and many relevant concepts already.

Impossible 7y ago

A Programmer's Introduction to Mathematics is probably what you're looking for. https://pimbook.org/ https://pimbook.org/

ah700 7y ago
I bought the book attempted to study from it and I am not a fan. It covers topics too briefly to be called an "introduction" to mathematics. If you have a solid math background and need a refresher you may find it useful, otherwise I found MIT OCW Mathematics for Computer Science to be a much more suitable introduction, and it comes with problem sets and answers (for the 2010 course). You can also purchase the course notes in book form on Amazon. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-042j-mathematics-for-computer-science-fall-2010/readings/ https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-compu... solutions https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4G5KBKimr07WXRlT0VKb0E0TGc https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4G5KBKimr07WXRlT0VK... physical book https://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Computer-Science-Eric-Lehman/dp/1680921223/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=#customerReviews https://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Computer-Science-Eric-Leh...

domnomnom 7y ago

If you can't even learn the syntax how will you ever learn the semantics?

ivan_ah 7y ago

Check out this short excerpt of definitions and examples of the math "alien symbols": https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/set_notation.pdf https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/set_notation.pdf They are really not that bad once you learn their meaning + very useful shorthand (you can think of math notation as a DSL with specific expressions for math operations). Longer preview of the book: https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSguide_v5_preview.pdf https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSguide_v5_previ... and here is another preview of the LA book: https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSguide2LA_preview.pdf https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSguide2LA_previ... Both books have been pretty popular with the programming crowd. They use standard math notation, but there are lots of code examples and computing analogies, so you'll feel right at home.